Argumentative Essay: The Oklahoma City Bombing

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What if the Oklahoma City Bombing was not planned by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols? It was one of the biggest domestic terrorist attacks in America. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were helped by middle eastern terrorist groups to commit the Oklahoma City Bombing.
On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 am the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed. The bombing left 168 people, including nineteen children dead and over 680 people injured. Many infants were killed in the bombing including a three-month-old (www.ducksters.com/history/us_1900s/oklahoma_city_bombing.php.). Flying pieces of glass caused most of the injuries from the blast (www.ducksters.com/history/us_1900s/oklahoma_city_bombing.php.). The bombing blew off the entire north …show more content…

After his parents divorced, he moved in with his father (“Oklahoma City Bombing: As We Watched.” Dir. Max Culhane. 2016. Television documentary). When he had moved in with his father he took up a very strong interest in guns and survival (“Oklahoma City Bombing: As We Watched.” Dir. Max Culhane. 2016. Television documentary). Timothy McVeigh wore a T-Shirt that said “Sic semper tyrannis,” which is Latin for “Thus always to tyrants (www.ducksters.com/history/us_1900s/oklahoma_city_bombing.php.). McVeigh joined the army, where he met his partner that helped him with the bombing, Terry Nichols. Both men were apart of a radical right-wing survivalist group based in Michigan …show more content…

The Turner Diaries by William Luther Pierce was one McVeigh’s favorite books according to his sister. It is about the need to protect ourselves from the federal government. This book was where he got the idea of using a truck to hold the bomb. Some of the other motivations for the bombing were Ruby Ridge and the Waco Siege (www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/06/mcveigh.usa.). He felt it was proof of the need to protect ourselves from the government and it made him very angry. McVeigh wrote letters from death row. These letters were sent to Bob Papovich, one of Timothy McVeigh’s friends (www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/06/mcveigh.usa.). In one of the letters McVeigh had written about his motivation for the bombing he said, “federal actions grew increasingly militaristic and violent, to the point where at Waco, our government - like the Chinese - was deploying tanks against its own citizens (www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/06/mcveigh.usa.).” In another letter he said, “When the post-inferno investigations and inquiries by the Executive and Legislative branches of government concluded that the federal government had done nothing fundamentally wrong during the raid of the Branch Davadians at Waco, the system not only failed the victims who died during that siege but also failed the citizens of this country. This failure in effect left the door open for more Wacos

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